When God Calls …. Pick Up The Phone

I spent most of my adolescence obsessed with becoming a priest. I even visited a local seminary (St. Charles Seminary), spoke to a few priests and signed up for an introductory program they offered anyone who thought they had a calling. And I thought I had a calling. But I was not certain I had a calling. I understand now that when you get a calling, there is no uncertainty. It’s crystal clear. You just know it.

Most, unfortunately, never find their calling. It’s an unfortunate byproduct of modern day life. How many grew up playing baseball, basketball, soccer, football, swimming, tennis, etc? Most likely, you spent your childhood focused on two or three activities. With such limited exposure to novel things, it’s virtually impossible for anyone to find their calling.

Finding your calling in life requires exposure to dozens of activities. You simply cannot learn what talents you possess if you are limited to two or three activities growing up. For those few who do find their calling, that means they have unearthed their latent inner talents. Talents are genetically unique to each individual. Every person possesses certain talents that are specific to their genetic makeup. It’s the job of parents, mentors and educators to help kids uncover those talents.

Regrettably, most live a lifetime ignorant of their talents. Our education system, for the most part, is to blame. We are all required to follow a specific curriculum, dictated by a system whose primary objective is to teach fundamentals that will enable each individual to get a job. Getting a job is in the best interest of society. By society, I mean government. It’s in government’s best interest to have as many employees as possible. This ensures a steady stream of tax revenue in the form of federal withholding taxes. Government does not want entrepreneurs, or, more specifically, it does not want those who pursue a dream. Dreams take too long to create income that can be taxed. I find this counterintuitive, since it is those very dreamers who change society and produce the most wealth for society. Microsoft, Apple, Google, Waste Management, GE and many other companies were started by dreamers.

Dreamers are special. They represent a small, fractional portion of society who experience a calling. Thanks to my research (Rich Habits Study), I was fortunate to have been able to interview 177 such dreamers. These 177 self-made millionaires all shared one thing in common – they were doing something for a living that they loved. They were all pursuing their calling in life.

When you find your calling, it changes your life and it changes everyone Else’s life. It triggers the discovery of an inner genius possessed by virtually every human being from the moment of birth. Pursuing a dream as your calling unleashes something I like to call The God Gene. This God Gene endows every human being with god-like creativity and insight. Those who pursue their calling in life trigger this God Gene. As a result, they go from ordinary to extraordinary. Pursuing a dream also enables you to tap into a hitherto dormant passion that transforms even the most lethargic into the hardest, most persistent worker. It increases your IQ exponentially, allowing you to see opportunities and overcome seemingly intractable obstacles. It allows you, for the first time, to see your future clearly. It really is magic. But it’s more like witnessing a miracle in real time. When you find your calling in life, it is the closest human beings get to actually talking with God. And when God calls, pick up the phone.

Tom Corley understands the difference between being rich and poor: at age nine, his family went from being multi-millionaires to broke in just one night, due to a catastrophic fire that destroyed his Dad's thriving business. For fourteen years they struggled with poverty. There were eleven in Tom's family, and they lived in constant fear of losing their home.

Driven by the desire to unlock the secrets to success and failure, Tom spent five years studying the daily activities of 233 rich people and 128 poor people. He discovered there was an immense difference between the habits of the rich and the poor. During his research he identified over 300 daily activities that separated the “haves” from the “have nots.” Tom decided to write a book to share what he learned. That book, Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals (1st Edition), went on to become an Amazon Bestseller in the United States forty times over a three year period. To give you some perspective, in order to be a true Amazon Bestseller in the United States, where you actually receive a specific Bestseller designation from Amazon, you need to be in the top 100 of all books sold by Amazon in the United States in a given day. Rich Habits did that for nearly thirty straight days, rising as high as #7, eclipsing such Bestselling authors such as Stephen Covey, Robert Kiyosaki and J.K. Rowlings. Imagine that - an unknown, first-time, self-published author selling more books than J.K. Rowlings!

Tom now travels the world, sharing his Rich Habits and motivating audiences at industry conferences, corporate events, universities, multi-level marketing group events, and global sales organizations’ presentations and finance conferences. He has even spoken on the same stage with famous entrepreneurs and personal development experts, such as Sir Richard Branson, Robin Sharma, Dr. Daniel Amen, and many others.

Tom has shared his insights on various national and international network, cable, and Internet television programs such as CBS Evening News, NBC News, Yahoo Financially Fit, Money.com, India TV, News.com Australia, and a host of others. He has been interviewed on many prestigious nationally syndicated radio shows, including the Dave Ramsey Show, Marketplace Money, and WABC.

Tom has been featured in numerous print magazines—such as Money magazine, Inc. Magazine, SUCCESS Magazine, Entrepreneur magazine, Fast Company magazine, More magazine, Epoca Magazine (Brazil’s largest weekly) and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine—and various online publications, including USA Today, CNN, MSN Money, SUCCESS.com, Inc.com, and the Huffington Post. Tom is a frequent contributor to Business Insider, Credit.com, Bankrate.com and a few other media outlets.

National publicity has garnered international media attention for Tom and his Rich Habits research spanning 23 countries. Broadcast media, online publications, and television throughout Asia, the South Pacific, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Central and South America have shared his powerful message.

In an effort to help parents, grandparents, teachers and adults become success mentors to the younger generation, Tom released his second book, Rich Kids: How to Raise Our Children to be Happy and Successful in Life in 2014. This book was the self-help category winner of the 2015 New York Book Festival and Runner-up in the prestigious 2015 Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards Contest. In 2016 Tom released his third book, Change Your Habits, Change Your Life. This book provides the latest science on habit change as well as more of Tom's unique research on the specific habits that helped transform 177 ordinary individuals into self-made millionaires.

Besides being an author, Tom is also a CPA, CFP, and hold a master’s degree in taxation. As president of Cerefice and Company, CPAs, Tom heads one of the premier financial firms in New Jersey.